3 August
It was really gratifying and encouraging to have so many visitors from Spain, on Monday 27th July 2015, both from Seville and Algeciras interested in learning more about Clubhouse and finding inspiration in our humble beginnings. Additionally it was a welcome bonus that this coincided with a visit from Patsy Dumas, an experienced Board member from Carriage House in Fort Wayne, Indiana who saw for herself our development and the enthusiasm around her.
Many thanks too, for the support shown from Minister Cortes who welcomed our visitors and Minister Sacramento (who sent her apologies as she was out of Gibraltar) as this demonstrated the support and acknowledgement by the Government of the importance that a Clubhouse has in its Community.
The day passed too quickly and the feedback obtained has been very positive.
Clubhouse Gibraltar
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Govt invites 'expressions of interest' for new housing projects
August 03, 2015
The Government is inviting expressions of interest from persons interested in purchasing a flatin Bob Peliza Mews and Hassan Centenary Terraces who may wish to receive further details at the appropriate time and make an application. It is expected that a further announcement will be made towards the end of the summer, when firm designs, prices and other details will be made available and applications invited.
It follows the announcement by HM GoG of the Blue Water project on the Eastside and more particularly the construction of 1147 affordable homes and an additional 514 affordable homes at Waterport, it is now announced that brochures with conceptual designs for the two new estates will be available for collection as from today at the showroom at 190 Main Street or by downloading from the websites www.hassancentenary terraces.gi and www.bobpelizamews.gi
Persons who applied for the allocation of a flat at Mons Calpe Mews and Beach View Terraces and were not successful, will receive these brochures by post and it will therefore not be necessary to collect the same. However, larger images and plans will be available for inspection at the showroom at 190 Main Street.
It is important to note that these brochures only contain preliminary details and layouts of flats as designs have not been fully completed and prices have not yet been determined. At this stage HM GoG is inviting expressions of interest from persons interested in purchasing a flat who may wish to receive further details at the appropriate time and make an application. It is expected that a further announcement will be made towards the end of the summer, when firm designs, prices and other details will be made available and applications invited.
ALLOCATION CRITERIA
HMGoG has felt it necessary to review the allocation criteria for these new estates in order to derive greater benefit by way of recovering more Government rented accommodation and also by helping those in need of increasing the size of their current accommodation. The priority criteria to be adopted will be in the order that follows.
1. Applicants who release Government rented accommodation, in order of their position on the Housing Waiting List first and then by category of flat released.
2. Applicants on the Housing waiting list but excluding those only eligible for a 1RKB
3. Applicants on the Housing waiting list eligible for a 1RKB/those eligible to apply for HMGoG rented housing but not on the waiting list/those, other than because they already previously owned property would be eligible to apply for housing/meritorious upgraders(i.e those requiring larger accommodation because of family composition). This group would be sorted by way of a draw.
4. Applicants wishing to upgrade or transfer from their currently owned accommodation.Also to be sorted by a draw.
5. Any other applicant resident in Gibraltar. To be sorted by a draw.
6. Any remaining apartments will be put out to tender to the highest bidder.
Those persons currently committed to purchasing a flat at either Mons Calpe Mews or Beach View Terraces should note, that if they opt out of the purchase before completion of the transaction and they subsequently make an application for either Bob Peliza Mews or Hassan Centenary Terraces, they will not be considered for allocation until the list of applicants in the first three groups above have been exhausted.
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
I stand by what I wrote
August 03, 2015
Dear Sir,
I find Momy Levy's letter, published on the 30th July, under the heading "Get your facts right," concerning key money and purporting to explain the position, most unconvincing.
I stand by every word I wrote. The evidence and witnesses of the real situation, as I said in my letter, can be found in the young couples of my generation who, 50 years ago, like me, were desperate to rent a flat to get married and were exposed to this racket.
As far as I am concerned this correspondence is now closed.
Yours sincerely,
R.A.Barabich"
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Joe Garcia - A Lifetime in Journalism - Our Editor awarded Gibraltar Medallion of Honour
August 03, 2015
As we fully reported last week, a number of persons have been awarded the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour or the Gibraltar Medallion of Distinction. We are pleased and proud that our Editor Joe Garcia was awarded the Medallion of Honour, the first journalist to receive such an honour. Joe Garcia has received many accolades in a lifetime journalism, it all started whilst he was an electronic engineering student in England and realised that his real interest was journalism, and still a teenager, he became London correspondent of the popular 'Gibraltar Post' subsequently becoming its editor and then proprietor. He also founded 'Panorama' 40 years ago, which he has edited since then.
He was an editor in his twenties and a publisher in his thirties. He published numerous books, booklets and other publications.
At the same time he broke into the international world of journalism, becoming Gibraltar correspondent for 'The Financial Times' for over 20 years, covering also for 'The Sunday Times' and other leading papers and news agencies.
He has the journalistic distinction of having written on the front page of every paper he has been the correpondent of.
There are many 'firsts' associated with him, such as writing for Spain's leading newspaper 'El Pais' for a decade, putting across the news and views of Gibraltar at a time when Gibraltar needed it most.
And being granted a formal interview by a Spanish Foreign Minister in the Palacio de Santa Cruz in Madrid -some- thing unheard of until then!
*He was the first Gibraltarian journalist to write extensively about Gibraltar abroad.
*The first to receive an award in the Queen's Honours List for services to journalism in Gibraltar and abroad.
*And now the first Gibraltarian journalist to receive the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour for services in the fields of journalism and publishing.
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Naive and informal attitude to blame for GFA issues
August 03, 2015
The Gibraltar FA is on track to halt the series of scandals that rocked the national football body last season according to its new deputy president.
Paul Lyon was appointed as assistant to Michael Llamas in the top job at the beginning of the year, and in the first of a two-part series explained to Panorama that damage to the GFA reputation was down more to oversight than malice.
"I don't believe there was any scandal," said Lyon. "Over the last several months the finance director has painstakingly gone through every receipt we've received and stopped spending in many areas. He has assured the president and myself that there was no wrongdoing in the GFA even though the potential was made clear by the auditors.
"If there was wrongdoing, Michael Llamas and myself would be the first ones to bring them to task but what we need from now on is financial prudence. We know how big the cake is so we need to work out how we're going to slice it."
The steps he has taken along with the new Attorney General have meant that slowly the GFA is getting to the point where the financial transparency is finally a reality, something which is essential in moulding the image of the association in the public eye.
He said the issue of the stadium is another problem that had to be tackled quickly: "Not only do I have friends who will not travel to Portugal but we cannot keep up the costs of going to Portugal. If we had our own stadium we could have our own branding, make money and go forward.
"It is an integral part to the success of the GFA as well as Gibraltar as a product, because it will enable us to make profit from games so at least we are not losing money, using the stadium for concerts, events and all the big games."
Recognition
August 03, 2015
Dear Sir,
In this day and age to get such recognition for an organization which since 1985 has strived to better the lives of people with intellectual disability through sports is beyond words. Here in LA so far from our home country the feeling of belonging has intensified and we are emotional, ecstatic and grateful for this acknowledgement.
What greater acceptance than the Freedom of the City bestowed on a programme that works entirely with volunteers whose aim is to better the lives of our athletes.
Thank you to the Government of Gibraltar, to our community and to all those, who, from day one, recognised that this was the way forward.
Annie M. Risso MBE
Programme Chief Executive SOG
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
The Queen may not visit Spain after all
August 03, 2015
We published last Thursday that the Queen was poised to visit Spain, that was being filtered by certain sources within the Foreign Office in London. We picked it up from the Daily Mail, whose columnist Ephraim Hardcastle said that a Foreign Office source had suggested that an old queen and a young king might be able to heal the festering UK/Spain dispute over Gibraltar.
We would not be surprised if there are those within the Foreign Office who are playing with such an idea. In fact, the Daily Mail piece said that 'royal Spain is mooted for 2016, bringing HM face to face with a king.'
Straight away we did make the point that if a visit to Spain was mooted, the immediate response in Gibraltar would be why not visit Gibraltar?
We added: The loyal people of Gibraltar have been waiting since 1954 for the Queen to visit the Rock. And judging from what filters through from Buckingham palace, it is not that Her Majesty would not love to come here.
But there are mandarins at the foreign Office who have other ideas such as putting foreigners before loyal British Gibraltarians.
That The Queen should be allowed to visit Spain, but not Gibraltar, was regarded by 'royal watcher' Momy Levy as the last straw.
The whole thing appears to have made its impact in the right circles in London. And we have heard that the official line is that there are no plans for The Queen to visit Spain.
We'll keep a close watch on this issue and make public anything that comes our way, whether some mandarins like it or not.
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Why is the culture minister promoting the Spanish name for Gibraltarian?
August 03, 2015
What on earth is culture minister Steven Linares up to, propagating the Spanish name for Gibraltarians? The latest effort is in a Government press release issued by him about what he calls a 'Llanito' comedy, which incredibly is being featured as part of Gibraltar's National Week.
We have already drawn attention to the use of 'Llanito' which is as Spanish as La Linea, so why should we keep propagating it? Have we lost all sense of British Gibraltarian nationhood?
Okay, Llanito has been used before but surely it is never too late to put right what is so blatantly wrong.
Joe Lezano sent us an excellent letter about it, drawing attention to the 'Diccionario Yanito' by Manuel Cavilla which we published years ago.
Mr Cavilla, as our letter writer said, continues to inform and explain that 'at the beginning of the XIX century the Italian immigrants were the most numerous and had established their residence in Gibraltar, and that they reached to constitute more than half the population, to such a point that written communications of the Governor were published in English and Italian for its better and major propagation.'
Surely, this explains why the reasoning that the affectionate name for Gibraltarians must have been derived from the Italian Gianni, or Giannito.
But never Llanito! In fact, there is much evidence that 'Llanito' is how the Spaniards who settled in the flat ground between the Rock and the Spanish hills were known. This was before La Linea became a town, and there was this barren flat land , call it an isthmus or a sandbank, but the fact that it was flat those living there, when asked where they hailed from, would say 'El Llano', and hence leading to their being named as 'Llanitos'.
So 'Llanito' is a Spanish word for that and other reasons, while 'Giannito' emerged from within British Gibraltar by those who had settled here mainly from Genoa.
So, why this crazy idea of perpetuating 'Llanito' which has nothing to do with us Gibraltarians?
Why doesn't the minister do something about it before more damage is done to the concept of the Gibraltarians? Why doesn't the Government do something about it also? How can they allow that a wrong name for our people should be perpetuated offiially by the Government itself?
Is it not time that something was done about correcting this obvious wrong?
Certainly, we are not going to shut up until Linares and the likes of him do something about it.
03-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
